Reclaiming our humanity

Go back

Mr Andrew Keen

20 March 2018

5.00pm - 6.30pm

SMU Mochtar Riady Auditorium

Singapore

The convenience of the online world has led to extensive surveillance, benefiting corporations who use this data for their own profit. Also, the perceived anonymity on the internet often encourages otherwise rational individuals to post hurtful comments on social media, causing genuine harm in the real world. As we become increasingly addicted to our devices, the question arises: Are we too powerless to halt the onward surge of this seemingly unstoppable digital wave? How does it impact our present and the next generations?

Author and public speaker Andrew Keen discussed how we might regain our humanity. He proposed a multifaceted approach involving regulation, civic responsibility, consumer choices, competitive innovation and educational solutions, with the aim of reclaiming control over the digital realm and its impact on our lives and those of future generations.

State power, law and democracy are being challenged in the digital age. Privacy and accountability issues are key problems at hand.
Despite its benefits, the digital revolution has a dark side with online anonymity fuelling hate and harm with little accountability.
The addiction to digital devices challenges our control over its negative impacts and the consequences that are borne by future generations.

Speaker

Mr Andrew Keen

World-renowned controversial antagonist of the digital revolution

On the unique role of human agency

So we've invented machines that can drive cars, clean homes, figure out illnesses and build bridges, but we haven't and will never invent machines that have agency, that have goals. That is quintessentially human. That's what defines us.

So we've invented machines that can drive cars, clean homes, figure out illnesses and build bridges, but we haven't and will never invent machines that have agency, that have goals. That is quintessentially human. That's what defines us.

Andrew Keen
World-renowned controversial antagonist of the digital revolution

I went everywhere and saw how human beings were using their agency to reshape the future, and I've come up with five tools that we have always had: regulation, innovation, consumer power, citizen engagement and education.